The All My Friends Music Festival is calling all indie alternative music hipster fans to Tijuana. The event boasts of 41 -- yes, 41! -- Latin alternative indie bands to perform at Casa de la Cultura.
What's significant about AMF is that it is uniting indie musicians from the U.S. and Mexico under one roof. Artists will be arriving by way of Brooklyn (Helado Negro), Long Beach City (Crystal Antlers), Mexico City (Matilda Manzana) and, of course, Tijuana (Los Macuanos), to give music audiences a variety of reasons to venture south of the border.
The festival's trinity: Argenis Garcia, Pablo Dodero and Marty Preciado have organized a mammoth of a music festival that will also foster environmentally friendly modes of transportation. For example, a bike tour will start in downtown Tijuana and end at the festival. Also, a shuttle service at the border wil take fans to and from the event in two-hour cycles from 2 p.m. to midnight (provided by Tijuana's atypical touring company Turista Libre). The best part: Admission and round-trip shuttle service is – get this – only $20!
In its third year, AMF is an all-ages event, with artists performing on three stages.
“As an avid concertgoer myself, I have found that the best moments in festivals -- or one-off shows -- are when the audience takes the music from the artists," Garcia said. "It becomes owned by the audience. Those kinds of moments are the ones we want to create with AMF12.”
Not all bands are Latino, organizers said.
“This is the first year AMF integrates bands from U.S.A.," Preciado said. "We outreached to the country north of us because we want to eradicate the notion of a border separating us. Through music and art, we can bring down borders and come closer through our passions.”
The bands from U.S. include Crystal Antlers, Beaters, Tropical Popsicle, Chelsea Wolfe, Lovely Bad Things, Pangea, Living Eyes, Tiger High, Holloys, The Bixby Knolls, Upsilon Acrux, and Helado Negro.
AMF is a promising leader in indie music festivals not only in Tijuana but for all of Mexico. Grab your $20 and backpack, and head down to Tijuana to experience high doses of transcultural, bilingual musical exchanges at the AMF on Nov. 17. For complete lineup and performance times visit: AMF Music Festival
Watch the AMF Teaser:
Dita Quiñones is a multimedia journalist with a passion for Latin alternative and hip-hop music news. In addition to SoundDiego, she contributes to Latina, FOX News Latino, Poder and HipHopDx. She is also the founder of the infamous music and politrix blog GN$F! Follow Dita on Twitter.
